[ISEA2016] Artist Statement: Ip Yuk-yiu — Another Day of Depression in Kowloon

Artist Statement

Satellite Event: No References: A Revisit of Hong Kong Video and Media Art from 1985

Ip’s recent works constitute dynamic and thoughtful explorations of hybrid and computational forms of cinema. Another Day of Depression in Kowloon (2012) is an excellent example: appropriating maps and images from the popular video game “CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPPS”, Ip conducted a yearlong session of virtual “fieldwork” in order to conjure up a poignant, surprisingly poetic and evocative digital portrait of Hong Kong. The artist calls his work “a ballad for post-colonial Hong Kong”, writing that:
[The work] turns the violent visual field of the first-person shooter into a series of vacant yet uncannily meditative tableaux, unearthing a formal poetry that is often overlooked during gameplay. The piece combines methodologies from observational and assemblage film traditions in raising questions about cultural representations in contemporary popular media, while at the same time creating evocative metaphors through the reworking of media materials.
[source: artradarjournal.com/2016/07/06/no-references-9-hong-kong-video-and-new-media-artists-part-1/]

  • Filmmaker Ip Yuk-yiu‘s works range from experimental films to video performances and media installations. He has exhibited extensively on international platforms such as the European Media Art Festival, the New York Film Festival, the Image Festival, FILE, VideoBrasil and Transmediale, among others. Currently Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, Ip has also lectured widely on film, video and media art in Hong Kong and the US. [source: artradarjournal.com/2016/07/06/no-references-9-hong-kong-video-and-new-media-artists-part-1/]